ForFounder is a private membership platform for entrepreneurs navigating major capital, growth, or exit decisions.

We create a trusted environment where entrepreneurs exchange insights, strengthen one another’s judgment, and approach critical decisions around institutional investment, strategic growth, M&A, or exit with clarity and confidence.

Our Members:

Gain transparent insight into investors, advisors, and deal processes

Learn from peers who have navigated similar decisions

Share experience in ways that protect privacy and align with founder interests

Explore opportunities to support and collaborate with fellow founders

Ask candid questions and get grounded, experience-based guidance

Gain access to a private Slack community

In certain situations, ForFounder may offer limited consulting services.

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Frequently Asked Questions.

  • ForFounder is an invitation-only platform and community for founders navigating critical capitalization decisions—such as raising institutional capital, preparing for a liquidity event, or evaluating strategic alternatives. We focus on helping founders make informed, founder-aligned decisions before, during, and after transactions.

  • ForFounder is designed for founders and cofounders of established companies who are actively considering or preparing for a raise, partial sale, or exit, as well as founders who have already exited and want to share hard-won experience with peers. ForFounder is not a fit for institutional investors or professionals involved in capitalization events for other businesses  (Sell-side advisory, investment banking, M&A, transaction attorneys, accounting, etc).

  • ForFounder is exclusive with strong admission criteria and gatekeeper functions to maintain the privacy of our members. Our community is intentionally small, curated, and transaction-focused. Instead of general networking or advice, we emphasize real-world experience, structured knowledge, and candid peer discussion around tough decisions founders rarely get to pressure-test elsewhere.

    ForFounder is a focused complement to popular peer groups.

  • No. ForFounder is not an investment bank, broker-dealer, law firm, or advisory service. We provide education, peer insight, and decision frameworks to help founders ask better questions and engage more effectively with their professional advisors.

  • Access to ForFounder is by application or invitation. Interested founders can submit an interest form to be considered for future cohorts, roundtables, or early access opportunities.

  • We are a multi-generational family business dedicated to personalized customer service and long-standing relationships. As I move toward retirement, ForFounder has been a great resource to help me and my sons think about how we can reorganize our family of companies and our operations to ensure that what we have built continues long into the future. I especially value the wisdom and support of peers who have been thorough similar things in different industries.

    Chuck Bartow, Founder

    SearGear Marine

  • After 25+ years growing and operating the specialty glass manufacturing business that we took over from our father, my brother and I began to seriously consider the inbound interest we received from Private Equity and strategic buyers. ForFounder helped us better understand the different options we had in front of us and was a great help as we worked through a long and complicated diligence process. We found the support of peers who had been through similar transactions to be absolutely invaluable.

    Jack Carson, Founder

    Richland Glass

  • We’ve grown our business to the point where we are ready to consider our first institutional investment. As a growing company, we have our hands full serving our customers, improving our technology, and increasing our footprint. Executing an outside capital raise on top of our day to day is challenging. Just the act of refining our messaging and preparing our materials is a heavy lift among everything else, but ForFounder has made it easier. Tapping into the experience and wisdom of other founders and CEOs who have successfully raised VC capital is a huge gift.

    Matthew Jansen, CEO

    Acorn Healthcare Credentialing Solutions

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